A SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF HUMAN AND MACHINE INTERACTION: THE BLACK MIRROR
Abstract: This study examines the ethical implications of contemporary digital technologies for human existence, focusing on the semiotic construction of human–machine interaction in the anthology series Black Mirror. The research gap addressed in this article concerns the limited attention paid to the sign systems through which the series produces ethical meanings: while existing studies have discussed Black Mirror mainly as a thematic critique of technological dystopia, fewer have systematically examined how visual and verbal signs organise questions of consciousness, autonomy, surveillance, identity, and responsibility. To address this gap, the study uses a Saussurean and Peircean semiotic framework to analyse how selected episodes encode ethical problems at the intersection of organic and artificial life. The empirical corpus consists of fourteen purposively selected episodes from seasons 2–6, excluding the later seventh season released in 2025, and was examined through qualitative coding of visual and verbal signs related to consciousness transfer, artificial intelligence (AI), social media, virtual reality, surveillance, and digital vigilantism. The analysis identifies recurring oppositions between embodiment and disembodiment, autonomy and control, presence and mediation, and responsibility and outsourcing, which together articulate specific moral narratives about technological progress. The article’s original contribution lies in linking semiotic form to technological ethics: it shows how popular techno-dystopian fiction not only represents ethical problems thematically but also constructs them through recurring signs, oppositions, motifs, and narrative patterns. The findings suggest that Black Mirror foregrounds the fragility of human agency in technologically mediated environments and problematises unregulated innovation as a threat to dignity, privacy, and social cohesion within the selected corpus. The study concludes that these findings are interpretive insights from a purposively selected corpus, while also indicating the need for further research on how AI and related technologies are represented, governed, and ethically implemented in ways that protect human agency, dignity, and the broader public interest.
Keywords: Black Mirror series; artificial intelligence (AI); technological development; human–machine interaction; semiotic analysis.